The second she steps into the hall, we hear a voice I recognize.
“Hey! What are you doing down there?”
“That’ll be Koval,” I whisper, maintaining my position in the alcove, out of sight. “When he reaches you, I’ll flank him and we’ll take him down.”
“No,” she whispers back.
“No? That’s definitely him and he’s getting closer,” I say as his jangling keys grow louder.
“Trust me on this. I can’t blow my cover yet.”
“But your clothes—”
“Stay hidden. Please, Peter.”
Even though she’s been looking down the hall toward Koval this whole time, I’m watching her, trying to decide whether to trust my instincts or hers.
At the last second, I duck into the bathroom, leaving the door open a crack so I can hear whatever’s about to go down. This would be the perfect opportunity to take Koval, even if he’s armed. He won’t expect two of us. But her last request was more like a plea, and by now I know Katie isn’t the kind of girl who begs for anything.
There’s something going on between her and Koval, though she claims to know nothing about him. I don’t know what Katie is playing at, or whether I should trust her as she asked, but I stay back.
“I was in the girls’ room when that announcement came on, and I’ve been afraid to come out. So … is everything still horrible out here?”
“Afraid so. We’re still on lockdown.”
“So why aren’t you hiding somewhere?” Katie asks.
“Well, I’m not just a janitor.”
Uh oh.
“Carlisle hired me as undercover security.”
I knew it. Not that it matters now.
“So what are you going to do about all of this?” Katie asks accusatorily, apparently forgetting she’s supposed to be playing a scared student.
“Not much I can do against a team of bank robbers, except walk the halls looking for kids like you who shouldn’t be out here. Hey, why are you dressed like that?”
“I’m supposed to be in drama right now. We’re doing Evita. I play a soldier.”
Koval is quiet for a few seconds before I hear him say, “You should probably come with me.”
“I’ll just go back to my class now, but thanks.”
“I don’t think that’s best,” Koval says, sounding a lot sterner than he has up until now.
“Let go of me,” Katie says, the last word muffled by what I suspect is Koval’s hand over her mouth.
All I can hear is the sound of their feet moving down the hall, and then no sound at all.
I play all the scenarios: Koval is putting on a great act as the loyal school employee trying to protect her; he thinks she’s just a student, and therefore leverage to negotiate his way out of here; Marchuk has told him what Katie really means to me, and he’s going to hurt her.
Since I’m trained to assume the worst, I choose the last scenario. With Katie so reluctant to blow her cover, she won’t fight him until the situation becomes do-or-die. She’ll be on the defensive, never a good position. And if she does fight, it will have to be hand-to-hand because she’s left her bag here.
Katie is pretty kickass, but I don’t like her odds in that situation. Koval’s a big dude.
Just as I step out of the restroom, a girl comes out of the one opposite. She lets out the beginning of a scream before I can grab her and cover her mouth. It takes me asking her three times whether she can calm down before I free her.
“Oh my God, I’ve been looking for you and here you are!” she scream-whispers.
Even at a loud whisper, I recognize her voice. It’s the way-too-perky girl who ran into Koval outside the office earlier.
“Shhh,” I say, hustling her back into the girls’ bathroom, which she takes the wrong way. Very wrong.
“Oooh, you want a little privacy, huh? That’s fine by me, Prettyboy.”
“Why are you just roaming the halls?” I ask, holding her at arm’s length. Or at least trying to, since she’s squirming around attempting to, I don’t know, kiss me, I think. “You do understand there are terrorists running around, right?”
“Honestly, I haven’t seen a single one. I think maybe you’re just putting us on. Oh my God, is this a prank? That’s what it is, isn’t it? I knew it!”
My fan makes me think of the movie Katie and I saw during our one and only date. After we left the theater, she spent ten minutes analyzing why there always has to be one in every scary movie ever made. You know the character—her silliness draws the ax murderer toward the group just as they’re about to get away, and she’s about to get everyone killed until someone slaps the stupid out of her? Katie insisted no one like that exists in real life, and if she did, her girl-card should be revoked.
I’ll have to tell Katie I found one.
“This is not a prank, and I really don’t have time for this. I have to find—”
“Promise me you’ll take me to the winter dance, and maybe I’ll believe you.”
“Look, uh, what’s your name?”
“Rachel.”
“Rachel—do you really think Dodson, the woman who has zero sense of humor, would be in on it with me? You heard her announcement, right?”
This seems to make the girl think for a second.
“If you’ve been running around the school looking for me, you know everything’s been locked down. Do you really think I could manage to take over the security system, like I’m some kind of genius hacker or something?”
“I suppose not.”
Time to land the kill shot. “And I just watched Katie Carmichael get taken away by one of the bad guys.”
“So this is for real?” says the girl, finally getting it. Only problem is, I think she may have gotten it too much. Her eyes go wide and she drops her phone. “Oh my God. What are we going to do? We’re going to die, aren’t we? We’re all going to die!”
“Well, we are not going to freak out,” I say, though it may already be too late. “We’re going to stay calm and make a plan to save our homecoming queen.”
Rachel is silent, just staring at me like she may have gone catatonic, but at least she isn’t screaming.
“Are you still with me, Rachel?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, good. We need to create a diversion. I have a lighter; we could set some paper towels on fire, maybe set off the sprinkler system. Unless she’s disabled that system, too,” I say, talking more to myself than to Rachel as I think through a plan, “and even if she didn’t, the alarm might scare everyone into leaving their classrooms.”
“Where is Katie?” Rachel asks, suddenly coming to life.
“I think she’s in the janitor’s office. Why?”
“Give me three minutes,” she says, heading for the door, “and I’ll give you one big fat distraction outside the janitor’s office.”
“What are you gonna do?”
“You’ll see! Just get ready.”
I’m scared to know what she’s planning, but I need to be focused on Koval when it happens, so I don’t press her for details. But I do ask her one last question before I leave.
“Which class should you be in right now?”
“Sixth-period World Geo, but don’t worry, because my teacher—”
“Isn’t there. I know. He’s kind of tied up right now,” I say, before she takes off running like she stole something.
What I don’t know is why Maitland wasn’t in his class when the lockdown happened, and I’m starting to think it wasn’t a coincidence. But I got ninety-nine problems and Maitland is like, ninety-eight on the list.
When I reach Koval’s office, I was right in guessing he’d bring Katie here. I hear her voice but I don’t dare sneak a look inside, in case Koval is watching the door. Instead, I stand just outside of it, waiting for Rachel’s distraction to arrive.
“Please, sir … please,” Katie is pleading, “I don’t know what you’ve been told, but you have it all wrong.”